Posted by SLS on September 10, 2015, at 13:46:58
In reply to Re: Lack of Pediatric Psych Options Discussion, posted by FloydAS on September 10, 2015, at 12:41:31
If I'm not mistaken, I believe there is an association between GAD and chronic G.I. symptoms that are otherwise unexplained. IBS is one. Elavil is a drug that has long been used to treat IBS. Hopefully, it will reduce anxiety as well. What dosage of amitriptyline is being used?
My question is whether or not treating anxiety aggressively would reduce G.I. symptoms. Regarding inflammation, both depression and anxiety induce the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the brain. It can be measured in the blood, including C-reactive protein. So, did the inflammation induced by GAD produce the G.I. symptoms? I don't know. Another possibility is that the chronic activation of the HPA axis as seen in anxiety and depression makes the system less able to reign in inflammatory responses. These are just ideas that occurred to me. I don't necessarily believe that these things explain your daughter's G.I. symptoms.
Some people will argue that the G.I. symptoms come first and produce inflammation, and that this inflammation affects the brain adversely to produce depression and anxiety. I simply have not researched these things very well. It is my inclination, though, that inflammation is the result of mental illness rather than its cause.
- Scott
Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1082314
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20150901/msgs/1082325.html